Gold Prices Dip, Bullion Gold and Silver Coin Sales Rise

by Bullion Prices Staff on March 29, 2012

U.S. gold prices settled slightly lower Thursday, marking a third straight session loss. June gold, the current most active futures contract, declined $5.60, or 0.3%, to $1,654.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold lost its appeal Thursday to risk-averse investors who preferred the U.S. dollar.

"We have suspected that it would take much more than a pure dollar correction for sustained gains to $1,700 and beyond, especially now that bullion is strongly correlated to the broader equity market, and risk sentiment in general," VTB Capital said in a note to clients.

"It comes as little surprise, with the VIX volatility index – the global risk gauge – rallying to 2.5-week highs, that gold followed other precious metals with the broader market back in risk averse mode."

Gold prices during the day traded between $1,646.70 an ounce and $1,666.90 an ounce. The metal has fallen $30.70, or 1.8%, since Monday.

In other New York futures prices, May silver added 16.1 cents, or 0.5%, to $31.99 an ounce while PGM’s faltered. Now the most active futures contract, July platinum lost $12.30, or 0.7%, to $1,628.30 an ounce while June palladium declined $2.80, or 0.4%, to $644.55 an ounce.

United States Mint Bullion Coin Sales

For the first time this week, both United States Mint bullion gold and silver coin sales rose on the same day. United States Mint Authorized Purchasers ordered 2,000 ounce of American Eagle gold bullion coins — 1,000 of the biggest 1 oz. size and 10,000 coins of the smallest 1/10 oz. size. For bullion silver coin sales, AP’s grabbed 30,000 ounces of the American Silver Eagle.

The most recent bullion coin totals are offered in the daily, monthly and 2012 sales columns below.

United States Mint 2012 Bullion Coin Sales

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thurs

Mar

2012 Sales

1 oz American Eagle Gold Coin

0

0

17,000

1,000

57,500

162,000

1/2 oz American Eagle Gold Coin

0

0

0

0

2,000

51,000

1/4 oz American Eagle Gold Coin

0

0

0

0

0

40,000

1/10 oz American Eagle Gold Coin

0

0

0

10,000

40,000

130,000

1 oz American Buffalo Gold Coin

0

0

3,000

0

26,000

46,500

5 oz America the Beautiful Silver Coins

400

0

0

0

1,800

7,800

1 oz American Silver Eagle

250,000

25,000

0

30,000

2,442,000

10,039,000

Notes: Figures above are in coins, not ounces sold. The United States Mint last updated sales of its 5 oz. America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins on Monday, March 26, 2012. All other bullion sales have an "as of date" of Thursday, March 29, 2012, as published on the Mint website.

In weekly reports on United States Mint products and recent sales, check out the following two articles:

Each article provides weekly sales of both bullion and numismatic products from the United States Mint. However, the first offers more extensive stats by product while the second focuses solely on silver products.

London Bullion Prices

Earlier fixed London bullion prices were split as well, but different than precious metals futures in New York as palladium — not silver — was the single gainer. The following grid offers London PM Fix daily prices through this week and gains over the most recent two-days.

London Fixings (PM)

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thurs

Daily Gain
($/%)

Silver Prices

$32.23

$33.01

$32.43

$31.79

-$0.64
-2.0%

Gold Prices

$1,680.25

$1,692.00

$1,676.00

$1,657.50

-$18.50
-1.1%

Platinum Prices

$1,639.00

$1,662.00

$1,642.00

$1,641.00

-$1.00
-0.1%

Palladium Prices

$664.00

$667.00

$651.00

$653.00

-$2.00
-0.3%

Refer to this site’s home page for always updated bullion prices and news.